With the next generation of the Global Positioning System scheduled to go online in 2014, newly revealed details — such as the fact that the system is completely backwards-compatible with current GPS hardware — help explain why consumers should be excited.
Once the new system is up and running, everything from Google Maps on your iPhone 4S to the unmanned drones patrolling faraway battlefields will work more accurately and reliably. Backwards compatibility ensures that everyday users won’t have to so much as lift a finger to take advantage of the new features.
“As soon as the new satellites are in the sky, you’ll notice improvements in your GPS performance,” Scott Lindell, director of business development for navigation and surveillance systems at Lockheed Martin, told The Daily. “The new system is fully compatible with the current one, so any device that’s able to lock onto GPS satellites today will be able to lock onto GPS III satellites when they’re operational.”
But before the new satellites become operational, teams of scientists and engineers will toil away in the suburbs of Denver, testing flightless, full-scale mock-ups known as GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbeds. Since the testbeds are flightless, Lockheed Martin’s people can concentrate on getting the kinks out of the satellites without having to worry about actually getting the orbiters in the air. It doesn’t hurt that tinkering with the testbeds is particularly cost-efficient.
“Working with [testbeds] is a bit like designing an automobile,” said Michael Friedman of Lockheed Martin’s communications and public affairs office. “Just like how automobile manufacturers usually work on prototypes before working on the actual cars, we do testing on prototypes before final production.”
With the delivery of the testbeds to its Denver-area facilities, Lockheed Martin is entering the final steps of a process that began in 2008, when the Air Force, which oversees both the military and civilian portions of the GPS system, awarded it the contract to create the GPS III satellites.
For everyday consumers, GPS III promises better accuracy and availability, with the satellites able to pinpoint a receiver, such as the chip in your smartphone, to within 3 feet of its actual location. That’s a pretty significant improvement over the current system, which can only pinpoint your location to within 10 feet, and it should help put a stop to users inadvertently driving into lakes.
So-called “dead zones” may also become a thing of the past once GPS III rolls out, since the new satellites will “deliver significantly more powerful signals,” according to Lindell. That’s good news for people in places where it’s now difficult to get a clear GPS signal, like lower Manhattan.
Another innovation that consumers will benefit from is a brand new signal that GPS III satellites will carry, one that will be interoperable with satellites deployed by other satellite navigation services, including Europe’s Galileo and Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System. That means if, for whatever reason, your smartphone is only able to lock onto three GPS satellites but can also see several Galileo satellites, you’ll still be able to get, say, turn-by-turn directions.
Remarkably, none of these improvements requires any sort of upgrade to the GPS system beyond the satellites themselves. GPS III “isn’t any more bandwidth-intensive than the current system,” said Lindell, nor does it require new swaths of wireless spectrum to operate. That’s good news for operators of spectrum-strapped earthbound wireless communications networks, including LightSquared, which plans to deploy a 4G LTE network by the end of 2012.
The company, which recently has had to defend itself against charges that its network interferes with older GPS equipment, already has more than 30 customers lined up to use it, most notably Sprint. According to Frank Boulben, the company’s executive vice president of strategy, marketing and sales, it’s also set aside a total of $150 million to help fix any lingering interference issues should they arise.
Once the new system is up and running, everything from Google Maps on your iPhone 4S to the unmanned drones patrolling faraway battlefields will work more accurately and reliably. Backwards compatibility ensures that everyday users won’t have to so much as lift a finger to take advantage of the new features.
“As soon as the new satellites are in the sky, you’ll notice improvements in your GPS performance,” Scott Lindell, director of business development for navigation and surveillance systems at Lockheed Martin, told The Daily. “The new system is fully compatible with the current one, so any device that’s able to lock onto GPS satellites today will be able to lock onto GPS III satellites when they’re operational.”
But before the new satellites become operational, teams of scientists and engineers will toil away in the suburbs of Denver, testing flightless, full-scale mock-ups known as GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbeds. Since the testbeds are flightless, Lockheed Martin’s people can concentrate on getting the kinks out of the satellites without having to worry about actually getting the orbiters in the air. It doesn’t hurt that tinkering with the testbeds is particularly cost-efficient.
“Working with [testbeds] is a bit like designing an automobile,” said Michael Friedman of Lockheed Martin’s communications and public affairs office. “Just like how automobile manufacturers usually work on prototypes before working on the actual cars, we do testing on prototypes before final production.”
With the delivery of the testbeds to its Denver-area facilities, Lockheed Martin is entering the final steps of a process that began in 2008, when the Air Force, which oversees both the military and civilian portions of the GPS system, awarded it the contract to create the GPS III satellites.
For everyday consumers, GPS III promises better accuracy and availability, with the satellites able to pinpoint a receiver, such as the chip in your smartphone, to within 3 feet of its actual location. That’s a pretty significant improvement over the current system, which can only pinpoint your location to within 10 feet, and it should help put a stop to users inadvertently driving into lakes.
So-called “dead zones” may also become a thing of the past once GPS III rolls out, since the new satellites will “deliver significantly more powerful signals,” according to Lindell. That’s good news for people in places where it’s now difficult to get a clear GPS signal, like lower Manhattan.
Another innovation that consumers will benefit from is a brand new signal that GPS III satellites will carry, one that will be interoperable with satellites deployed by other satellite navigation services, including Europe’s Galileo and Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System. That means if, for whatever reason, your smartphone is only able to lock onto three GPS satellites but can also see several Galileo satellites, you’ll still be able to get, say, turn-by-turn directions.
Remarkably, none of these improvements requires any sort of upgrade to the GPS system beyond the satellites themselves. GPS III “isn’t any more bandwidth-intensive than the current system,” said Lindell, nor does it require new swaths of wireless spectrum to operate. That’s good news for operators of spectrum-strapped earthbound wireless communications networks, including LightSquared, which plans to deploy a 4G LTE network by the end of 2012.
The company, which recently has had to defend itself against charges that its network interferes with older GPS equipment, already has more than 30 customers lined up to use it, most notably Sprint. According to Frank Boulben, the company’s executive vice president of strategy, marketing and sales, it’s also set aside a total of $150 million to help fix any lingering interference issues should they arise.
